This episode exhibits the single largest contrast in quality between two plotlines in a single episode of the show I can recall seeing. You almost get whiplash when viewed without commercials, and them being completely unrelated in topic and tone doesn't help. Apparently some of the people working on the show expressed dissatisfaction with these two plots being in the same episode, and would've preferred they each be paired with different A and B plots, and I certainly agree - though really, the B plot needed some major rewrites before it went anywhere.
The A-plot of this episode is really impeccable. It a great story about what was a topical issue at the time, and it was handled beautifully. Every character has their own take on the issue, informed by their spiritual, scientific, and ethical beliefs, as well as their own motives. It's 90s trek at it's best, and something any television program would do well to study. It examines a complex issue with an equally complex depiction of something similar (*too* similar for me to call it a metaphor, I think), and it doesn't over simplify the problem to guide you to the author's perspective - it presents the problem in a relatable format with familiar characters to make the viewer really feel all sides of the issue. It's a rich text, one that I feel could support lengthy debate about it's interpretation and moral dilemmas themselves, and I feel like I'm a better person for having seen it. There is one line that's phrased in a way that felt super dated and took me out of the episode, but, well, the show came out nearly 30 years ago - & the phase I would've replaced it with was coined (as far as I can tell) only the year before this episode came out - so I think I can cut them some slack.
The B plot is some of the hardest Star Trek I've had to watch (and that's saying something). To the credit of the actors and the production crew, they did about as much as they could with it, and by 90's TV standards the child acting could've been a lot worse. But the entire plot is a moral lesson about how you shouldn't judge a person just because they treat women like slaves, and 'reasonable people disagree' about how much respect should be extended to women. I think the most charitable read I can offer is that it's use of the kids to play out this storyline means it was actually intended to be about how we shouldn't blame children who are indoctrinated into harmful ideologies, but there's never any lip service paid to that interpretation by the script, and it's certainly framed in the far more problematic way described above by even the adult characters attempting to impart this lesson on the children. In fact, they seem to imply that this difference in attitudes towards women is - to some extent - an inherent racial trait, meaning this plot manages to stray into racism as well. I think I recall later episodes attempt explore how the race aspect was actually have been reflective of the prejudices of these characters, but that still leaves the sexism.
Really I think you could argue that this B-plot is so flawed it should be invalidating for this episode getting anything higher than a 2, but the A-plot is so well written I couldn't bring myself to go that low. The plots have basically nothing to do with each other so I wish they'd replaced it with something else. I generally am not a Jake/Nog plot hater but this time, for the ideal viewing experience I'd recommend just skipping to the next scene whenever Jake or Nog show up and you could very well have a 9/10 episode on your hands.
The A-plot of this episode is really impeccable. It a great story about what was a topical issue at the time, and it was handled beautifully. Every character has their own take on the issue, informed by their spiritual, scientific, and ethical beliefs, as well as their own motives. It's 90s trek at it's best, and something any television program would do well to study. It examines a complex issue with an equally complex depiction of something similar (*too* similar for me to call it a metaphor, I think), and it doesn't over simplify the problem to guide you to the author's perspective - it presents the problem in a relatable format with familiar characters to make the viewer really feel all sides of the issue. It's a rich text, one that I feel could support lengthy debate about it's interpretation and moral dilemmas themselves, and I feel like I'm a better person for having seen it. There is one line that's phrased in a way that felt super dated and took me out of the episode, but, well, the show came out nearly 30 years ago - & the phase I would've replaced it with was coined (as far as I can tell) only the year before this episode came out - so I think I can cut them some slack.
The B plot is some of the hardest Star Trek I've had to watch (and that's saying something). To the credit of the actors and the production crew, they did about as much as they could with it, and by 90's TV standards the child acting could've been a lot worse. But the entire plot is a moral lesson about how you shouldn't judge a person just because they treat women like slaves, and 'reasonable people disagree' about how much respect should be extended to women. I think the most charitable read I can offer is that it's use of the kids to play out this storyline means it was actually intended to be about how we shouldn't blame children who are indoctrinated into harmful ideologies, but there's never any lip service paid to that interpretation by the script, and it's certainly framed in the far more problematic way described above by even the adult characters attempting to impart this lesson on the children. In fact, they seem to imply that this difference in attitudes towards women is - to some extent - an inherent racial trait, meaning this plot manages to stray into racism as well. I think I recall later episodes attempt explore how the race aspect was actually have been reflective of the prejudices of these characters, but that still leaves the sexism.
Really I think you could argue that this B-plot is so flawed it should be invalidating for this episode getting anything higher than a 2, but the A-plot is so well written I couldn't bring myself to go that low. The plots have basically nothing to do with each other so I wish they'd replaced it with something else. I generally am not a Jake/Nog plot hater but this time, for the ideal viewing experience I'd recommend just skipping to the next scene whenever Jake or Nog show up and you could very well have a 9/10 episode on your hands.